Best Open-World Games With Unique Gameplay

Summary

• Unique open-world games like Caves Of Qud prioritize distinct settings and gameplay in order to stand out.
• Subnautica shines with a unique underwater setting and gameplay, offering a fresh experience.
• Death Stranding merges a supernatural story, vast landscapes, and gameplay balance for a unique experience.

With so many open-world games on the market, it can be easy for the experiences they offer to blend together. AAA studios have been ringing the same bells for many years, though there have been some admirable efforts in the form of titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

This has resulted in both indie developers and studios at large taking more risks in their designs. Many have gone on to create open-world games with unique gameplay in recent years, with experiences ranging from the underwater survival of Subnautica to the high-budget acquired taste of Death Stranding.

8 Caves Of Qud

A Unique Setting And An Evocative Character Creator

Caves Of Qud is a traditional roguelike with a tremendously unique setting, but its gameplay is also incredibly distinctive thanks to an intricately-designed character creator. The flexibility of this character creator and the wealth of options it offers allows each player to have a distinct experience, creating evocative characters that amble through the world in their own unique ways.

A diverse variety of character mutations and cybernetic augments are both mechanically dense and thematic, allowing players to stretch their imagination and feel unique. Furthermore, in a unique fashion, Caves Of Qud allows players to enjoy the game as a regular RPG with an alternate game mode, making it a much more accessible title.

7 Subnautica

A Distinctive Setting That Facilitates Unique Gameplay

There are plenty of open-world survival-craft games, and while many try to put their own unique spin on the genre, most are very familiar. Subnautica changes things up dramatically by setting the game in an alien ocean.

This not only gives the game a unique setting, but it also results in a distinctive gameplay loop, too. The horror elements injected by the variety of underwater creatures and the oxygen system that controls the player’s ability to explore result in a gameplay loop that feels wholly different from that of other open-world titles.

6 Mount & Blade: Warband

A Unique Sandbox That Allows Players To Strategize Freely

Mount & Blade: Warband is a strategic sandbox game that tasks players with managing their own armies and commanding them in battle. The game’s world can be explored freely via an overworld map, allowing players to strategize without restraint, facilitating sandbox gameplay.

The rough-edged gameplay and lack of compelling narrative quests may be a severe downside for fans of open-world games. However, the combination of strategic battles from a third/first-person perspective, overworld exploration, and management gameplay results in a thoroughly unique loop that’s wholly unique to Mount & Blade.

5 Kingdom Come: Deliverance

A Rich Historical Setting Elevated By A Unique Combat System

Taking place in a rich and evocative historical setting, Kingdom Come: Deliverance is a unique beast with a truly distinctive feel. The grounded reality of its world and unique, rewarding combat system results in gameplay that feels truly distinct.

The unique melee combat of Kingdom Come is the beating heart of its moment-to-moment gameplay, providing much of the challenge while remaining a satisfying experience. However, the game is also driven by its story and detailed open-world exploration, allowing it to be a full, fleshed-out experience that’s far from one-dimensional.

4 Slime Rancher

A Cozy Open-World Driven By A Unique Tool

Featuring a near-total lack of conflict and a gameplay loop that revolves around monetizing cutesy balls of slime, Slime Rancher is an inherently cozy experience. The lack of a real combat system and focus on joyful exploration allows Slime Rancher to stand out, but its unique flavor is elevated by the game’s unforgettable vacuum gun or the “Vacpack.”

The relaxing atmosphere and farming-sim loop is one thing, but the Vacpack gives the moment-to-moment gameplay a unique spin. This distinctive tool makes the simple act of collecting items tremendously satisfying, be it pulling apples from a tree or carrots from the ground. Altogether, this results in an open-world experience that’s focused on play, rather than challenge and/or grinding.

3 Kenshi

True Player Agency In A Strange Open-World

Giving players the task of setting their own goals, Kenshi is a sandbox strategy game with real-time combat and a tactical pause feature. The squad-based combat itself, while not a focus, is relatively unique, but it’s Kenshi‘s world and how the player is able to interact with it that give it its distinct feel.

Kenshi‘s wasteland world is an utterly strange setting populated by a variety of factions, NPCs, and wandering mobs. The RPG elements of Kenshi‘s gameplay and the sheer level of agency it offers also allows players to make their way through the world in whatever way they see fit. This can include everything from trading or hunting bounties to farming or freeing slaves.

2 Outer Wilds

Fluid Exploration Across A Small Solar System

Outer Wilds is an open-world adventure that allows players to explore an entire solar system, built from a variety of tremendously unique planets that offer their own wonders and dangers alike. Lacking a combat system, Outer Wilds succeeds with its sense of discovery and wonder.

The combination of a heartfelt soundtrack, charming characters, and an utterly immersive atmosphere result in a unique tone, especially so when combined with the game’s art style. Exploring the solar system is also a uniquely fluid experience thanks to the lack of loading screens between space travel and on-foot exploration.

1 Death Stranding

Unique Gameplay That Balances Tedium And Reward

Death Stranding is a truly unique game that combines a supernatural, utterly strange story with an expansive landscape for players to explore. This is backed by a distinctive gameplay loop that revolves around traveling both on-foot and via vehicles.

This gameplay may be too tedious for some, featuring many long stretches of walking across (at times) hostile environments. However, by turning the mere act of walking into an at-times tense gameplay loop, Death Stranding becomes an incredibly unique experience. Furthermore, the wealth of context and length of the journeys players must make result in expeditions that are truly rewarding.